In December, he left for the Philippines and spent two months living in a dorm and training, before defeating Filipino upstart Melchor Roda on points on the undercard of Pinoy Pride 35 - the country's biggest boxing event - in Cebu in Feburary.

Ridhwan followed that up with a first-round knockout of 23-year-old Indonesian Heri Purnomo at the Malaysia Professional Boxing Championship in Kuala Lumpur two weeks ago.